We went back to Tamale today. At least we did not have to leave so early; we knew that the offices would not be open until between 9:30 and 10:00. We left the mission house at 7:30.
Our first stop was the police station. We sat there for a little while before they started raffling through the envelopes to find the ones that belonged to us. The commander was eating his breakfast. We were happy when they came across our names. We are obviously not the only ones that are needing criminal checks. In case you were wondering, we are notcriminals and they could find no criminal activity. I know that you are relieved that your missionaries are not criminals! The envelopes were sealed and addressed to the Social Welfare department. I wanted to open the envelopes to see exactly what they said and I wanted to make a copy for our records but Steve would not let me because they were not addressed to me. As soon as we got to the Social Welfare office I asked if we could open them. The officer in charge laughed and said, “Yes you can open them; you need to know what it says and you will want to make copies.”
The officer then went over our documents and sent us to an office supply place that compiles documents and puts them in comb binders to make a booklet. The documents had to be placed in the booklet in a certain order. It took us a while to get everything situated and all the copies made. We had to rewrite one of the letters; fortunately we had taken the computer with us and a memory stick. The office supply place was able to put the memory stick in their computer and make the copy we needed.
We went back to the Social Welfare office for a final check and then paid for the mailing fee to get it to Accra and back. We were so happy to be able to check that off of our “To Do List”!
I took that desk phone back to the Vodafone office this morning. It will make calls and it will receive calls but it will not let us make international calls. I wonder if they had cut off the international calling feature. They had not, we were able to make an international call while we were in Tamale but evidently the signal in Yendi is not strong enough. The guy that was helping me is the same guy that usually helps me. When he found out that I wanted to make international calls he told me that they had an international bundle and wanted me to purchase it for the phone. What! Do I look crazy?? Did I not just sit in line for an hour to tell you that I could not make international calls on the phone from Yendi and now you want to sell me a bundle? Please!
We got back to Yendi shortly before 3:00. After we checked on the masons we went to town to buy padlocks for the new rooms. We also bought extra security light bulbs to leave here while we are gone and anti-malaria medicine to take home with us.
Thank you for your prayers.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
